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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22961311">Inked</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikymie/pseuds/rikymie'>rikymie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>All The Ships, Heartache, Heartbreak, M/M, Tattoos, WINKUN, all the chapters have one direction song titles, best friend! mark, blind! taeyong, doctor! kun, everyone else are love interests, exchange student! ten, florist! hendery, gay bar friend! lucas, lot of time jumps, luwin, not canon, sicheng - Freeform, some explicit content, taewin, tattooist, tattooist! winwin, this whole story was basically inspired by one direction music, to all the boys i've loved before reminiscent, windery, winten, winwin - Freeform, winwin be in his feelings, winwin fic fest, wonder which ship is endgame, you'll see - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:55:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22961311</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikymie/pseuds/rikymie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>as an aspiring creative individual and professional, sicheng runs his tattoo and piercing parlor, lullaby ink, with ambitions of being more recognized. one uncanny thing about sicheng is that after every relationship he’s been through, he inks himself for the memories it brought him. for better or for worse.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Lee Taeyong, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Mark Lee, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Qian Kun, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Wong Kun Hang | Hendery, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Winwin Fic Fest Round 1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. story of my life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>⠀⠀lullaby ink, a somewhat underground yet well visited tattoo and piercing parlor located in the center of shanghai, the most populated city in china. tucked away in a back alley, some people would travel from different countries for the chance to get tattooed at lullaby ink while others just happened to stumble upon the small establishment after a night of drinking. regardless of who it was that entered the parlor, the owner was always there to welcome them and take care of all of their tattoo and piercing needs. this owner was named dong sicheng.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng built lullaby ink from the ground up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀it had been years since he left his hometown of wenzhou to start his apprenticeship at eye candy tattoo and piercing parlor in shanghai, leaving things almost completely unresolved with his parents. this sudden move was prompted by numerous arguments between his parents and himself after they had found out about his aspirations of wanting to become a tattooist. the straw that broke the camel’s back was laid on when sicheng’s parents found out he had gotten a tattoo without their permission. after an explosive battle with his father and absolutely no support from his mother, sicheng packed his things and left, not turning back even once. for the time that followed his departure, sicheng lived with his older sister who had agreed to house him at her apartment in shanghai. he attended school during the day while apprenticing at eye candy under the supervision of his tattoo master, master zhou, in the afternoons. sicheng had his regrets but the one thing he would never regret was getting his first tattoo, the outline of a small butterfly on the back of his right shoulder. at fifteen years old, sicheng felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, but that small butterfly seemed to make it just a little more bearable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀without the support of his parents, sicheng often felt lost in his quest to accomplish his goal of becoming a tattooist. he had his sister but she could only do so much for him as she had a life of her own to live. master zhou often acted as the guardian sicheng so desperately needed, being his mentor and someone he looked up to during his most trying times. from fifteen years old to nineteen years old, sicheng worked at eye candy as an apprentice for master zhou. in those four years he had learned everything he possibly could about being a tattooist, gaining experience some could only dream of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀when sicheng finally turned twenty he was offered a more hands on job at the parlor as a piercing specialist, a step that master zhou said he must take before becoming an actual tattooist. his years of apprenticing under and learning from master zhou were finally paying off and he could not have been more happy to accept the offer. for two years sicheng specialized in piercing while also still working on his own work as a potential tattooist. he was put in charge of doing all piercings that were not requested be done by master zhou himself and had gotten great feedback from his customers. sicheng had even convinced his older sister to let him do her orbital piercing as his first customer, she was almost completely against it but her undying love and support for her brother made it happen. two years passed as he did piercings for the parlor and while sicheng would sometimes have to deal with the occasional fussy customer, things went as smooth as they could at an underground tattoo and piercing parlor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀when sicheng turned twenty-two, it was time for his final promotion. after six years of learning the ways of master zhou at eye candy tattoo and piercing parlor, he was finally offered a job as a full-time tattoo and piercing specialist. he was given his own set of inking tools, a space in the studio, and recommendations from master zhou that sent customers coming his way. for the first time in his life, sicheng had finally felt like he had made it and that all the hardships he had went through had been worth it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀in those six years of apprenticing under master zhou, while sicheng had increased his skills in tattooing, he also had a project of his own that grew with him. by the time sicheng became a full-time tattooist at eye candy tattoo and piercing parlor, he already had an almost fully completed sleeve of tattoos that lined the length of his right arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀since the start of his apprenticeship, sicheng had developed a habit that master zhou referred to as </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘hhb,’</span>
  </em>
  <span> more formally known to sicheng had </span>
  <em>
    <span>harboring heart breaks</span>
  </em>
  <span>. with each relationship that came and went, sicheng was so inspired to learn from them that he designed a tattoo to remind himself of the memories and asked master zhou to add it to his sleeve. master zhou always agreed because he figured that as long as sicheng could give him a good story that went along with the tattoos, he was ready to have them. even while years went by as sicheng worked as an official tattooist at the parlor, he added to the sleeve and was finally able to add his designs himself, an experience he would very quickly get used to. in the four years sicheng spent working as a full-time tattoo and piercing specialist at eye candy, he added to his official sleeve once. of course he had various other tattoos that signified different things in various places in addition to the sleeve, but his right arm was designated for the most memorable of experiences.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀ten years. sicheng had spent a grand total of ten years at eye candy tattoo and piercing parlor before master zhou suggested sicheng create his own practice. sicheng had always thought about what it would be like to own his own parlor but as he was having such a great time under master zhou, he never thought it would actually happen. it was not until master zhou started showing sicheng listings for open properties that he actually considered the idea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀this encouragement was what pushed sicheng to move on from his years under master zhou at eye candy and open his own tattoo and piercing parlor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀lullaby ink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀while the events that came before had shaped sicheng in a large way, nothing had more of an extremely profound impact on sicheng than the opening of lullaby ink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀when lullaby ink finally opened, sicheng had five tattoos that filled the spaces of his sleeve. it was quite the collection of ink that took up the expanse of his arm, leaving one space unaccounted for; an hourglass, an airplane, a bottle of soju, a bouquet of roses, and the imprint of a kiss laid on the surface of his skin, images that meant much more to him than the drawings that they were.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀it has currently been nearly four years since the opening of lullaby ink. sicheng was sitting at the front desk of the parlor as he let his eye drift over the sleeve of memories he held.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. loved you first</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>⠀⠀</span>
  <span>as sicheng’s gaze glided over the ink that covered his right arm, his eyes landed on the tattoo that started this experimentive series of tattoos; an hourglass. it was the first tattoo sicheng had ever designed completely on his own and it was also the first tattoo master zhou had done for him. as sicheng touched the tattoo that occupied the space on his upper right arm, he was reminded of the boy who had prompted the tattoos creation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀it had been in his senior year of high school when sicheng had fallen in love for the first time with the worst possible person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀just years prior, </span>
  <span>sicheng sat at his desk with his head down on his arms as he waited for the day’s classes to begin. while other students were cramming to do their homework at the last minute and chatting amongst themselves around the classroom, all sicheng wanted to do was sleep. as he was just starting to drift into his own land of lullabies, he was jolted awake by the sudden arrival of his seatmate and best friend, lee minhyung.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀having been seatmates since their freshman year, minhyung and sicheng naturally became incredibly close as the school semesters passed by. minhyung had moved to china at a young age due to his father's job relocating and had also moved to shanghai around the same time sicheng had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng lifted his head to glare at minhyung for interrupting his well deserved almost nap, but he was only greeted with a more than cheerful smile from the boy beside him. rolling his eyes, sicheng knew exactly what that smile meant and he just did not want to hear it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“i think i might ask her out this week,” minhyung gushed as his eyes dreamily landed on their mutual friend, choi sunmi, who was seated across the room. she had been talking to some friends when she caught minhyung and sicheng’s eyes and waved happily in their direction before returning to her own conversation. minhyung practically melted in his seat at the small interaction while sicheng just followed his sight from sunmi to minhyung himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“you say this every week and you never do it,” sicheng commented bluntly, wishing that the conversation had ended before it started. minhyung pouted at sicheng as he tugged on his arm pitifully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“i just get so nervous,” minhyung mumbled. he had now let go of sicheng’s arm and was currently leaning his back on sicheng as he faced away from him. sicheng couldn’t help but feel bad for his dismal friend, patting him on the back lightly. minhyung had been fighting this battle of whether to confess to his crush or not for months and with every month, he was getting no closer to actually committing to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“the school year is almost over and you two are going to the same university so i would just go for it,” sicheng encouraged, nudging his friend off of him so he could sit up and put his books on his desk. minhyung groaned as he followed sicheng’s lead and went forward with getting his course work together as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“you want me to confess so bad but don’t you have someone you like,” minhyung asked as he had so many times before in an attempt to get sicheng to spill any information he could on the person he claimed to like. sicheng could only roll his eyes in response, knowing exactly what his friend was trying to do. minhyung was never one to pry too much so he dropped the subject and went back to organizing his items for class. as minhyung was distracted with collecting his papers, sicheng snuck a glance as his seatmate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀as much as it killed sicheng to keep things from minhyung, this was one thing that sicheng had to keep to himself. there was no easy way for sicheng to tell his best friend that he was in love with him so all he could do was keep it to himself. especially when his best friend was into one of their mutual friends, his confession would only result in chaos and he just was not ready to deal with that. he did not want to lose minhyung.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng forced his eye off of minhyung just in time as their instructor finally walked into the room, prompting the class to begin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀after their classes had ended, sicheng and minhyung were exhausted. maybe not physically exhausted but a day full of lessons was definitely mentally taxing. while minhyung was sprawled back on his chair, sicheng slowly collected his items and stood up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“you going to eye candy?” minhyung asked as his friend stood up. sicheng nodded tiredly, this was the usual routine and no matter how many times minhyung had asked if he was going, the answer was never going to change. “can i come with you?” minhyung added, a new question from the usual. sicheng was prepared to say no and be on his way but something in him was telling him that he should just say yes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀and this was the decision that resulted in minhyung and sicheng walking into eye candy together for the very first time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“this is incredible,” minhyung said as his eyes roamed around the tattoo and piercing parlor, he had never been in one before so naturally it was a new experience. sicheng smiled at his friends' amazement as he set his items down and began looking at the afternoons appointment list at the front desk. minhyung followed in his friend's steps and sat next to sicheng, leaning his head on his shoulder in order to see what he was doing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀this was extremely distracting to sicheng but he did his best to focus on the task at hand. master zhou had two appointments later in the afternoon and sicheng was in charge of inputting the paper appointments into an online database. sicheng had texted master zhou prior to the pair's arrival so he was comforted in knowing that master zhou would not be leaving his private studio area and bothering the kids any time soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀as sicheng was finally copying information into the database, minhyung spoke up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“one day can i be one of those appointments for you?” he asked, looking at sicheng as his head was still leaning on the other's shoulder. sicheng paused his typing and tilted his head toward minhyung, unaware that this small motion would cause their faces to be just centimeters apart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀both boys froze for a few moments before minhyung pulled away, leaning back on his own chair. sicheng let out an awkward cough as he turned his attention back to what he had been typing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“i mean, yeah if you want that,” sicheng responded, looking from the paper to the screen numerous times in an attempt to regain his composure. an awkward silence filled the air as sicheng just could not force himself to continue typing. he refused to look away from the screen as he heard minhyung lift from the other chair and take a few steps away from the desk. seconds later, sicheng caught a glimpse of minhyung walking around the tattoo design decorated room as if he was in an art museum.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“you better design something cool for me when i come,” minhyung said as he looked at the samples around him. “oh like this hourglass, so we can pretend that we have all the time in the world together,” minhyung continued with a laugh that turned into more of a giggle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“that’s so cheesy,” sicheng said, cringing at the thought of anyone getting a tattoo for that reason. “you should be saying that to sunmi,” he teased playfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀minhyung’s giggling slowly faded as his walking came to a halt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“i guess you’re right,” he said with a glance toward sicheng who had finally regained his focus on typing up the documents. minhyung held this gaze for a while until he realized that he was staring and shook his head away. “hey i’m gonna head home, i forgot to tell my mother i was here and you know how much she hates me doing anything ever,” minhyung said looking at anything he could to avoid looking at sicheng again. “i’ll see you at school, bye” minhyung continued and was out the door before sicheng would even think of replying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng did not think much of it at the time as he had met minhyung’s mother and knew she was a lot to handle. thinking back, sicheng should have paid more attention to that short interaction. he should have done something with the opportunity he had. now it was lost.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀it had now been weeks since minhyung had visited the parlor and sicheng knew something was up. minhyung had started arriving at school just before the teacher arrived and would leave right after instruction was over, sometimes without so much as saying a word to sicheng. sicheng had tried to talk to minhyung about this blatant avoidance numerous times but he was only met with obvious bullshit excuses from the other. even his texts and calls were getting minimal response, a complete opposite from the copious amount of messages he used to receive from minhyung.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng had  been trying to put things together while he was walking from his school to eye candy when he received a text from one of his classmates.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“are you going to <em>dragonxx</em> tonight?” dejun asked. xiao dejun was a boy in sicheng’s class that he could kind of call a friend. they did not actively go out of their way to talk to each other but they had mutual friends and dejun always made sure sicheng was aware of plans their friend group had made.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀<em>dragonxx</em> was the codename of a house party one of the students in their class held at least once a month. the responsibility of who held the part changed each month but what the party consisted of was always the same; explicit dancing, minimal clothing, and a lot of drinking. <em>dragonxx</em> was a hotspot for drama but sicheng always found himself going whether he wanted to or not, it wasn’t like he had parents to further disappoint.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“who is doing it this month?” sicheng typed and sent to dejun. within a few seconds, sicheng would see the three pulsing dots on his screen, indicating that dejun was typing a response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“did minhyung not tell you? it’s at sunmi’s place today, starts at 10pm,” dejun said in one text before quickly typing another. “sunmi said the dress code is sheer and sexy so be prepared for that as well, i have a feeling tonight's gonna go harder than it usually does,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“alright, see you there,” sicheng replied before placing his phone in his pocket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀minhyung was definitely going to be there, there was no way he would miss <em>dragonxx</em> at sunmi’s house. usually the pair got ready for the party together but seeing as minhyung could not even be bothered to tell him it was tonight, that wasn’t happening. sicheng would need to take his chances talking to minhyung at <em>dragonxx</em> since talking to him in school and over the phone seemed to be out of question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀walking into eye candy, sicheng was forced to push the thoughts of minhyung and <em>dragonxx</em> to the back of his mind as master zhou greeted him and assigned him his tasks for the afternoon. after a long afternoon of inputting appointments, organizing forms, and watching master zhou perform his practice, the time for <em>dragonxx</em> was nearing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“<em>dragonxx</em> is tonight so is it okay if i head out now?” sicheng asked as he slowly began gathering his items together. there was no way master zhou would be able to stop him from leaving but it felt more respectful if he at least asked before just exiting regardless. there was also the fact that master zhou had participated in his own versions of <em>dragonxx</em> parties when he was in school so he understood what it was like going to those parties.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“be safe tonight, don’t make bad decisions,” master zhou said with a wink toward his apprentice. sicheng dry heaved dramatically at the wink having finished gathering his items and was now headed out the front door. master zhou could only chuckle at the boy's antics as he turned his attention back to the tattoo he was designing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng hurried to his sister's apartment to drop off his school things and prepare for the party. he stripped himself of his school attire and rummaged through his closet for something to fit the dress code sunmi had invented and would certainly be enforcing. after obtaining a tight sheer shirt from his sisters closet, sicheng combined the top with a pair of tight black leather pants and black combat boots. throwing a long black coat over the look, sicheng headed out of the apartment and was now on his way to sunmi’s house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀it was around 10:30pm when sicheng opened the door of sunmi’s house only to be greeted with a cacophony of music and voices, meshing into one loud mixture of incoherent sounds. it was dark in the house, flashing multicolored lights being the only thing providing light as teens practically jumped on top of each other in the discord. sicheng snaked his coat off, leaving it in what looked like a pile of clothing and made his way through the crowd toward what he found to be the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀before finding minhyung, he would definitely need a drink. or two. or three.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“sicheng, you made it!” a familiar voice yelled over the music as an arm was thrown over sicheng’s shoulder. sicheng found the culprit to be none other than dejun, who was not handing him his fourth shot of the night. “to our last <em>dragonxx</em>,” dejun said as he clashed shot glasses with sicheng, prompting the two to down the shots as fast as they could. sicheng was definitely feeling the effects of the drinks but that did not stop him from accepting the fifth shot handed to him by another friend who was on the opposite side of him. sicheng drank the shot without a second glass before someone pulled him arm so that he was more on their level</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“you look great tonight,” a female voice whispered in his ear. knowing exactly who it was, sicheng was too intoxicated to stop himself from initially frowning before fiending a smile as he stood up straight and looked at the girl next to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“when do i <em>not</em> look good, sunmi?” sicheng asked as he peered down at sunmi, a question she knew she didn’t need to answer. if sunmi was around, that meant minhyung had to be in the area and that meant that it was time for sicheng to confront his best friend. Sicheng’s eyes scanned the room haphazardly, he wasn’t able to focus on areas for more than a few moments as the alcohol coursing through his blood was making it hard for him to focus on remotely anything .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“if you’re looking for minhyung, he went up to the guest room,” sunmi said as she pointed toward the stairs that were next to the kitchen. “he's been moody without you, talk to him,” this annoyed sicheng. it wasn’t like he was the one ignoring minhyung, minhyung hadn’t even made an effort to talk to him in weeks and now he wasn’t to act like the victim.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng downed his final shot before he dragged himself up the stairs he had been directed to in search of minhyung. he was beginning to regret the six shots he had just taken as they were now amplifying the emotions he had harbored over the past few weeks. the emotions of sadness, anger, and most prominent, </span>
  <em>
    <span>lust</span>
  </em>
  <span>, were mixing into one indistinguishable feeling, something </span>
  <em>
    <span>volatile</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀after opening a few doors and awkwardly interrupting a few couples, sicheng opened a door that revealed his best friend, sitting on a bed in the dark. the faint light of the hall illuminated the boy's face as he looked toward the door slowly, his reaction time obviously altered by the amount of alcohol he had probably consumed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀for the seconds that followed, sicheng stood unmoving in the doorway of the room as the pair stared at each other. without breaking that eye contact, sicheng stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, enveloping him and minhyung in a blanket of darkness. the moon was the only thing giving him guidance as sicheng found the bed and sat on it next to minhyung. the smell of alcohol permeated the room, as it seemed that neither of the boys wanted to start this conversation, or both were afraid of what would happen if they did. the faint sound of music and light breathing was the only thing that could be heard in the room, a silence that was killing sicheng.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“minhyung, can-” sicheng began to force out before minhyung interrupted him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“can we pretend that we have all the time in the world together?” minhyung asked, looking directly at sicheng. momentarily stunned by his voice, sicheng found that his words were now caught in his throat. even as a tear slid down minhyung’s face, illuminated by the moonlight, not a word came out of sicheng’s mouth no matter how hard he tried. “<em>please</em>,” minhyung pleaded as more tears fell, leaning closer and closer to sicheng.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀perhaps it was the alcohol they had coursing through their veins or a longing that had needed to be fulfilled. as minhyung kissed sicheng, the music of the party below them seemed to fade out almost entirely, as if they were the own two people in existence. there was no one around to stop them and the taste of alcohol on their tongues was enough to encourage them to go farther and deeper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀minhyung hauled himself onto sicheng’s lap as he wrapped his arms around his neck and tilted his face to deepen the kiss. sicheng was putting in the work as well, holding minhyung as steady as possible whilst running one of his hands through his hair. alcohol and lust was a dangerous mix but caution had been thrown to the wind as minhyung’s hand found the skin on sicheng’s back that held his sacred butterfly tattoo. just the warmth from minhyung’s hand was enough to send sicheng through the roof as a guttural groan erupted from his core.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng hadn’t noticed until now but minhyung was wearing a mesh crop top, leaving his lower torso exposed and driving sicheng absolutely insane. it was getting harder and harder to breathe as sicheng’s hands explored the expanse of minhyung’s torso. minhyung shivered under sicheng’s touch, biting down lightly on his lip which sent sicheng reeling even further.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀the event felt like a fever dream, something that sicheng had imagined but never thought would happen. sicheng’s mind was clouded with the six shots he had taken and the warm release of emotion that he was experiencing, nothing prepared him for the sudden end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀minhyung had roughly pulled sicheng toward him for the last time before suddenly pushing himself away from the boy. the two were panting as the loud music from the party below them was beginning to fade back in, almost masking the labored breaths.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“minhyung,” sicheng managed to say through his breathes as he reached out for the others hand. minhyung stood from the bed, stumbling slightly as he distanced himself from sicheng. minhyung rubbed his eyes hurriedly and ran his hands through his hair roughly as if trying to regain his senses. looking at sicheng one final time, minhyung hurried out of the room, leaving the door open behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng wanted to stand as well but his legs had been reduced to jelly. it took a while of sitting on the bed and slowly sobering up for sicheng to finally be able to haul himself off the bed. he trudged out of the room and down the stairs, toward the exit where he would grab his coat and leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀what happened the day after was something that stuck with sicheng his entire life. while lee minhyung in general had prompted the creation of the hourglass tattoo, the aftermath of <em>dragonxx</em> was what solidified sicheng’s desire to permanently document the experience.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng was sitting at his desk in class although today, he was much more nervous than he usually was. even when minhyung was ignoring him, he had never been nervous for his arrival. sicheng could feel his eyes being drawn to the entrance of the classroom, knowing minhyung could walk in at any moment. sicheng’s view was then blocked by dejun who took a seat on minhyung’s desk and faced him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“did you hear what happened at the party yesterday?” dejun asked quietly as he leaned toward sicheng for a reply. sicheng paused for a moment but he quickly shook his head, knowing minhyung would have never revealed what happened between them to anyone. “minhyung finally asked sunmi out and now they’re dating,” dejun said happily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng was momentarily taken back by the news.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“good for them,” sicheng eventually said, unable to really mask his disappointment. a disappointment that would soon turn into anger as the classroom door opened to reveal minhyung on the other side. disregarding sicheng completely, minhyung headed toward sunmi’s desk and greeted her with a light kiss. this action alone was enough to send sicheng’s heart sinking, fists clenched as his eyes met minhyung’s. it seemed to take less than a second for minhyung to look away, turning his attention to his new found girlfriend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀and that was how the last few weeks of school went. minhyung wouldn’t even look at sicheng most days but his bubbly personality didn’t differ from the usual. the first thing minhyung did when he entered the classroom everyday was greet sunmi and stay near her desk until the second the teacher came in. then after their lessons, minhyung would leave with sunmi as soon as he could. minhyung seemed to be doing just fine, as if sicheng had never been his friend from the beginning… as if the night at <em>dragonxx</em> never happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀sicheng was a different story. he wanted nothing more than to talk to minhyung, even if it was rejection, he wanted to speak to him again. he wanted minhyung to look at him and acknowledge his existence. the avoidance before was tolerable but this complete erasure of his existence was unbearable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀as the last day of school came around, sicheng had endured enough and was sick of being ignored. as classes ended, graduation followed soon after.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀as caps were thrown in the air and celebratory cheers were amplified, sicheng found minhyung in the crowd of graduates. minhyung, distracted by the excitement and happiness of graduation, wrapped his arms around sicheng and hugged him for the first time in weeks. sicheng didn’t dare hug back and was met with a confused look from minhyung as he pulled away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“so i exist now?” sicheng spat bitterly as minhyungs arms dropped to his sides.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“can we not do this here,” minhyung said lowly, afraid that one of their classmates might witness the altercation. “look, i’m sorry about <em>dragonxx</em>, i let things to too far,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“too far? you can’t be serious,” sicheng said in disbelief, he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a small laugh as he stared at the boy in front of him. “what happened to pretending that we had all the time in the world together, minhyung?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀“i’m sorry sicheng, i was confused” minhyung said as if it wouldn’t add salt to an already open wound. sicheng scoffed as he took a few steps closer to minhyung and leaned so that his mouth was right next to minhying’s ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀<em>“you may be kissing her, but i know you’re thinking of me,”</em></span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀the last thing sicheng had ever said to minhyung.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>⠀⠀the days following graduation, sicheng had designed the hourglass tattoo and asked master zhou to do it for him. and with that, the heartbreak harboring began.</span>
</p>
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